Ideal types of family business management: Horizontal fit between family and business decisions and the relationship with family business performance

Rodrigo Basco and María José Pérez Rodríguez

Journal of Family Business Strategy, 2011, vol. 2, issue 3, 151-165

Abstract: Despite considerable progress made using systems and configurative approaches in family business research, current knowledge remains limited on how different combinations of organizational attributes determine relevant outcomes and, therefore, how family affects businesses. To address this question, we focus on the overlap between family and business at management and governance levels. We posit that family- and business-oriented decisions emerge in four areas: board of directors, succession, human resources, and strategic process. This argument allows us to conceive three ideal types of family firms that yield maximum family firm performance, by considering the way that family firms adjust their orientations in their decisions. Building on a sample of 732 privately owned Spanish family firms, we propose the following main hypothesis: the greater the similarity of a family firm to an ideal profile, the better its performance. Our main results show that family firms can achieve successful business results by using a combination of family and business orientations in their decision making.

Keywords: Family business; Family business performance; Ideal types; Configurative approach; Horizontal fit (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (37)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:fambus:v:2:y:2011:i:3:p:151-165

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DOI: 10.1016/j.jfbs.2011.07.004

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